Trampling the Goddess, Part Three

A U.S. Election Week Question

Can anyone explain to me the right-wing campaign in the United States to criminalize family planning and normalize sexual assault? Politician after politician has trivialized rape in order to undergird an ideological stance on a woman’s right to choose when to bring children into the world. Not satisfied with merely attacking freedom of choice regarding abortion (even in cases of rape and incest), many have promised to criminalize various forms of contraception.

The question posed above is largely rhetorical, but I hope to be allowed a stab at an actual answer. This particular worldview, I think, is largely defined by a deep-seated fear of female power that manifests as the desire to control and dominate women. Usurping the role of choice with regard to both sex and childbirth renders the female essentially powerless and nullifies the threat. Once again, we see the trampling of—rather than reverence for—the goddess.

How can moderates and Independents contribute to the task of further isolating the truly extreme, openly misogynist elements that have infected one of our major political parties until they lose their influence over it, or until the party itself loses all political relevance and implodes? What disturbs me most about this election is that the party in question has embraced an ideology only slightly to the left of the National Socialists in the 1930s, yet the race is neck-and-neck. That says something about the reactionary instincts of a large percentage of our population, and it’s hardly complimentary.

I know there are many U.S. citizens—both men and women— whose worldview is essentially conservative, but who would shudder with revulsion if they were to actually read the party platform. Decent people who are conservative by nature but who do not buy into the bilious, anti-human rhetoric that has come to define that party since its leaders made a conscious choice to embrace the ideology of its far-right fringe.

At a time when political extremism and deep partisanship have come to dominate U.S. politics, Independents have become a key target demographic for candidates of both parties. Our numbers swell as poisonous partisan rhetoric increases. This represents an opportunity to raise our voices in favor of balance and sanity—and, of course, vote!